Monthly Bridging Movement Bulletin:
Best Things We’ve Seen

We send a monthly bulletin to the 1,000+ leaders of Coalition partner organizations. Part of the bulletin is Best Things We’ve Seen around or related to the bridging movement. The Best Things from prior months are below.

August 2023

• Gov Cox’s Disagree Better initiative.

1. Saving Your Family Dinner Video (Tweet) (also on YouTube)

2. Disagree Better Intro Video (Tweet) (also on YouTube)

3. Why this governor is promoting ‘healthy conflict’ - The Washington Post

• This Is the Music America Needs - The New York Times (from Braver Angels Convention)

• ‘Gut-Level Hatred’ Is Consuming Our Political Life - The New York Times

• Contact Theory with No Contact: Facilitating Dialogue Online - ETH Zürich

• Starts With Us tweets on how Liberals and Conservatives have each contributed to toxic division.

• The 2024 Election Is a Fight Over America’s Way of Life - Wall Street Journal

• The Simple Power of Communicating with Kindness - Harvard Business Review

• How Superintendent Marlon Styles found a solution to contentious school board meetings in Middletown, Ohio - Starts With Us

• Record number of Americans say they're politically independent - Axios

July 2023

• Bridging Movement Storytelling & Media Relations - Listen First Project

• Kate Doak-Keszler: How Museums Are Helping Americans Bridge Divides - American Alliance of Museums

• Mike Murphy & Andrew Henry: Growing threat to American democracy: Winning at all costs - The Hill

• Big 10: How to depolarize America, Part 1 - The News Gazette

• Big 10: How to depolarize America, Part 2 - The News Gazette

• The Rage and Joy of MAGA America - The New York Times

• Common Ground Committee: The Politics of Climate

1. Panel 1 Highlights: Val Demings and Adam Kinzinger

2. Panel 2 Highlights: Gina McCarthy and Bret Stephens

• Michigan Bridge Builders Could Represent Our State at National Forum - Michigan Municipal League Foundation

• Conservatives go to red states and liberals go to blue as the country grows more polarized - AP News

• Political Polarization in the U.S. Is the New Focus of Significant Research Fellowship Program - Carnegie Corporation of New York

June 2023

• Maia Ferdman and Graham Bodie: Bridge Building as a Basic Operating Principle - National Civic Review

• We Still Have a Lot to Learn About What Pluralism Means in Philanthropy - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

• Put the People Back in the People’s House - RealClear Politics 

• A Convicted Felon’s Unexpected Alliance w/ Police | UN/DIVIDED - Starts With Us 

• Two Americas Index: 20% favor a "national divorce" - Axios 

• What Good Looks Like - Common Ground Committee 

• Now Political Polarization Comes for Marriage Prospects - The Atlantic 

• Democrats and Republicans share core values but still distrust each other - AP News 

• Here’s what’s driving America’s increasing political polarization - NBC News

• This library lets you borrow people instead of books. It just may help bridge our bitter divisions - CNN Health

May 2023

• Becca Kearl, Cheryl Graeve and Shelley Hoy: Toxic polarization is poisoning America. Here's how you can help stop it this week. - USA TODAY

• Bruce Bond & Tom Fishman: Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon are the product of America’s media landscape. It’s time to meet the exhausted majority’s rising demand for positive journalism - Fortune

• Avery Hilliard: National Week of Conversation is here - WTVA

• Surgeon General: We Have Become a Lonely Nation. It’s Time to Fix That. - The New York Times

• The Necessity of Patriotism (Even in Times Like These) - New York Times

• Mark Sappenfield: ‘Abortion Talks’: How six women found respect despite disagreement - The Christian Science Monitor

• Do You Live in a ‘Tight’ State or a ‘Loose’ One? Turns Out It Matters Quite a Bit. - New York Times

• Andre Thomas & Todd Levinson: Healing conversations about race - The Fulcrum

• Jerren Chang: Why are we afraid of conversation? - The Fulcrum

• Lisa Swallow: Bringing It Home - The Fulcrum

• Margaret Savoie, Thomas Lee and Haughton Mann: Commentary: National Week of Conversation - Hotty Toddy

• Zachary Cote: Primary sources allow teachers to continue the National Week of Conversation - The Fulcrum

April 2023

• Annie Caplan and Christy Moran: The power of libraries to connect communities - The Fulcrum

• Joan Blades: Using bridging tools to improve workplace productivity and retention - The Fulcrum

• Peter Coleman & Pearce Godwin: Americans Are Tired of Political Division. Here’s How to Bridge It - TIME

• Ryan Bernsten: I traveled to all 50 states to find solutions to America’s political division: Here’s what I learned on the ground - The Fulcrum

• Graham Bodie: Repairing America’s Broken Democracy: Bridge Alliance Members Take Action - CityBiz

• Jerad Morey: Faith leaders help heal divided communities - The Fulcrum

• Peter Coleman & Pearce Godwin: Finding the Courage to Challenge Your Political In-Group - TIME

• Deanna Troust: Polarization in the workplace: The next frontier for inclusive organizations - The Fulcrum

• Pastor Mark Ford: Faith, care and conversation across our divides - The Fulcrum

• John Wood Jr: What would Jesus say to Americans at Easter? Let's learn to love each other - USA TODAY

• Lisa Swallow: America’s most wicked problem - The Fulcrum

• Ace Parsi: Living the learned experience of bridging differences - The Fulcrum

March 2023

• These radically simple changes helped lawmakers actually get things done - The Washington Post

• Evangelicals, it's time for dialogue work — the ‘Christian’ way - The Fulcrum

• Rep. Jeff Jackson Video

• Rep. Becca Balint Video

• Top CEOs Employ A Listen-First Philosophy: Insights From Hyundai Canada CEO Don Romano - Forbes

• Why can’t Americans agree on, well, nearly anything? Philosophy has some answers - The Conversation

• How to tackle political polarization — the researchers trying to bridge divides - Nature

• Building Bridges in the Context of Inequality - Constructive Dialogue Institute

• Behavioral Science and Social Contact Peacemaking - United States Institute of Peace

• The New Anarchy: America faces a type of extremist violence it does not know how to stop - The Atlantic

February 2023

• White Paper: Measuring and Evaluating the Impact of Bridge-Building Work In the United States - Civic Health Project

• Drs. Cornel West and Robert George: Losing friendship due to political polarization a 'failure of trust' - Fox News

• Cultivating Contact: A Guide to Building Bridges and Meaningful Connections Between Groups - Linda R. Tropp & Trisha A. Dehrone

• John Wood Jr: Americans find ways to signal resistance to culture war - Fox News

• SOTU 2023: Speaking to the Exhausted Majority - More in Common

• Meet the People Working on Getting Us to Hate Each Other Less - New York Times

• Poll: Americans' Legislative Wish List for new congress shows frustration with political system - McCourtney Institute for Democracy and APM Research Lab

• America’s True Divide: Pluralists vs. Zealots - The Wall Street Journal

• Defusing the History Wars: Common Ground & Division on American History - More in Common

• One Woman Is Holding Politicians Accountable for Nasty Speech. It’s Changing Politics. - Politico

• The Rise of Political Violence in the United States - Journal of Democracy

January 2023

• We keep moving from one wrong fight to another. Here’s how to stop. - Washington Post

• Defusing the History Wars: Finding Common Ground in Teaching America’s National Story - More in Common

• The Year We Lost It - New York Times

• How social media platforms can reduce polarization - Brookings Institute

• America Is Lost in a Dark Forest, But There's a Path Out - Time

• Kansas Gov. Kelly calls for ‘civility and kindness’ in second inaugural speech - Kansas Reflector

• David Meyers: Keep working the levers of democracy - The Fulcrum

• Perspective: Congress should embrace a bipartisan approach to the environment - Deseret News

• Our view: Don't let doctrine of division hold sway - The Observer

• Americans differ by party, ideology over the impact of social media on U.S. democracy - Pew

December 2022

• The divided states of America: Florida, California and the future of political polarization - Los Angeles Times

• A Funder's Guide to Building Social Cohesion - Democracy Funders Network with Civic Health Project, New Pluralists, and Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement

• When Voters Become Fans - Project Syndicate

• He is a staunch gun rights supporter. She lost her son to gun violence. They overcame their differences to become close friends - CNN

• Reducing Pernicious Polarization: A Comparative Historical Analysis of Depolarization - Carnegie Endowment

• A ‘Spirited’ approach to healing division - The Fulcrum

• Intergroup Contact Theory: Past, Present, and Future - The Inquisitive Mind

• House chiefs try bipartisan experiment: Talking to each other - Roll Call

• Opinion: Can we end the divisiveness and forge the change we believe in? - The Mercury News

• When did America's culture wars begin, and how can they end? Jon Ronson has answers - NPR

November 2022

• Nealin Parker: Is American democracy in trouble? Here are 9 ways you can help strengthen our nation. - USA TODAY

• Peter Coleman: How to Save the US from a Second Civil War - Time

• Calcified Politics Gives Us Another Close Election - The Cook Political Report

• Why Is America Always Divided 50–50? - The Atlantic

• An Ex-Gang Leader’s Advice for Deescalating Violence in Politics - Politico

• This Group Has $100 Million and a Big Goal: To Fix America - New York Times

• Is Philanthropy Taking the Wrong Approach to Addressing Polarization? - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

• Bridging the divide: Gathering Red and Blue together - CBS News

• Karsh Institute Project Highlights The Power of Conversation Over Division - UVAToday

• Voter isolation grows as 2024 candidates forgo mainstream media - Axios

October 2022

• To destroy Trump, is it OK to break the rules? We'll pay a high price for doing so. - USA TODAY by John Wood Jr., Braver Angels

• Megastudy identifying successful interventions to strengthen Americans’ democratic attitudes - Strengthening Democracy Challenge

• Playbook for Trusted Elections - Citizen Data

• America’s democratic structure is indeed shuddering — under its own weight - Washington Post

• Renewing American Democracy: Navigating A Changing Nation - Beyond Conflict

• There is not a bipartisan urgency among voters for preserving democracy - Washington Post

• Randomized Controlled Trial Demonstrates Perspectives' Effectiveness among Adult Learners - Constructive Dialogue Institute

• Students share their experiences and values at the Longest Table - The Daily Mississippian

• Two Americas Index: Democracy deniers - Axios

• How political candidates are targeting you on social media based on your music tastes, shopping habits and favorite TV shows - CNN

September 2022

• Lexington Herald Leader: When disaster hits, let’s agree to support one another no matter how we voted

• The New Yorker: How Politics Got So Polarized

• FixUS: Poll Findings: American Patriotic Values & Ideals

• Santoro and Broockman: The promise and pitfalls of cross-partisan conversations for reducing affective polarization: Evidence from randomized experiments

• USA Today: We fought to defend democracy. This new threat to America now keeps us awake at night + CBS News Video: Team Democracy urges citizens to sign pledge re-committing to free and fair elections

• BBC: Crossing Divides with Deep Listening for BBC100

• Braver Angels: ‘If we could get past this issue we could talk about almost anything’: Here’s how the Jessamine County Alliance dove into a heated issue

• Kate Isaacs & Kara Penn: Red Fathers and Blue Daughters Bridging the Political Divide

• Gallup: Confidence in U.S. Institutions Down; Average at New Low

• Essential Partners: The Understanding Gap: A Mel Snapshot

June 2022

• Wall Street Journal: A Listening Deficit Plagues America, From 2020 Vote to Jan. 6 to Vaccines, featuring Lisa Swallow of Crossing Party Lines, your #ListenFirst Coalition, and America Talks

• ABC News: America Talks tackles 'toxic polarization' through conversation (video), featuring Cheryl Graeve of NICD

• Dick's Sporting Goods Huddles Up With Meeting of America (another collective impact endeavor many of you have co-created, now in pilot phase)

• Several bridging leaders recently testified on the Hill for the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. We pointed to your local programs as excellent ways for members of Congress to positively engage with constituents.

• USA Today: America's warning lights are blinking red. We need to act now before it's too late. by Pearce Godwin

• USA Today: Don't give up on America. We can still save ourselves from toxic polarization. by Bruce Bond, David Eisner, Pearce Godwin and Kristin Hansen

• 9 Democrats, 9 Republicans Introduce Legislation to Reduce Polarization and Support Community Bridgebuilding, featuring endorsements from several field leaders

  • The Seattle Times: Support U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer’s Building Civic Bridges Act

• Atlantic: A Gentler, Better Way to Change Minds

• Carnegie: What Happens When Democracies Become Perniciously Polarized?

• Brookings Institute: Reducing extreme polarization is key to stabilizing democracy

• Hartman et al: Interventions to Reduce Partisan Animosity, featuring several Coalition partners

• KING-TV (Seattle): Addressing our country's deep divide, featuring Jillian Youngblood of Civic Genius

• Harvard Business Review: Managing a Polarized Workforce

• Axios: Charted: Two Americas Index

• NYT: America Has a Scorn Problem

• FoxNews: This year in America, let's listen, learn, help and lead

• Stanford Social Innovation Review: Essential Mindset Shifts for Collective Impact

• Bridgers Book Club list by Civic Health Project

January 2022

• PBS Jan 6 Special: Preserving Democracy: Pursuing a More Perfect Union (clip of bridging segment)

• Time Magazine: How America Can Rebuild the Community Bonds It Needs to Face the Next Pandemic

• CBS 60 Minutes: Bridging America's political divide with conversations, "One Small Step" at a time 

• PBS NewsHour: Political polarization prompts efforts to bridge the gap through shared experiences

• CBS News: Group helps liberals and conservatives see past labels

• The Reunited States was aired nationwide on PBS, which also featured the Everyday Heroes profiles on several bridging movement leaders (Kristin Hansen, John Wood, Jr., John Gable, and Pearce Godwin)

• Music for our Movement: Beautiful songs hitting our bridging notes

  • All American by Mickey Guyton

  • Undivided by Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard

  • Uncivil War by Shemekia Copeland

• Distillation of 50+ media pieces on the next "Civil War” in the United States Thanks to Eric Servatius (LFP) for saving us all countless hours trying to read it all. The document is open for your comments!

• Science & Perspectives on Toxic Polarization A live compilation of academic research and smart perspectives relevant to our mission. Send Eric@ListenFirstProject.org any we're missing.

• Breaking Bread: A conversation on race in America (Hosted by John Wood, Jr., Braver Angels)

• Time Magazine: Half the U.S. Believes Another Civil War Is Likely. Here Are the 5 Steps We Must Take to Avoid That 

• The Hill: The most dangerous divide in America isn't what you think (by Mike Murphy, FixUS)

• CNN: The surprising common psychological traits between the far left and far right

• CNN: Two lawmakers say their bipartisan friendship a model for overcoming 'toxic' year in Washington

• UVA Center for Politics: New Initiative Explores Deep, Persistent Divides Between Biden and Trump Voters

• TEDx: Why and How We Should Engage in Intellectual Conversations

November 2021

• CBS Video: Retired man walks from North Dakota to Texas to help Americans find common ground

October 2021

• 2021 Common Ground Scorecard from Common Ground Committee (Stats)

• Testimonial video from America Talks Infrastructure shared by NICD and other partners on Capitol Hill.

• New York Times: How Much Does How Much We Hate Each Other Matter?

• Harvard Business Review: 3 Strategies to Address Political Polarization in the Workplace

• USA TODAY: Trump is not ruining democracy, we are.

August 2021

• Bridging Movement Research Repository by Listen First Project (30 pages of research informing our collective mission; thanks to Eric Servatius for the comprehensive update!)

• A posthumous message on bipartisanship: ‘There’s value in people you don’t agree with’ (video)

• A Republican and Democrat walk into a town hall. Can they help fix Congress? in USA TODAY, featuring Braver Angels

• Root Causes Perspectives: How Did We Get Here? by FixUS

• Building bridges: Why bipartisan infrastructure deal is a win for America's moderates by Keith Allred of NICD in USA TODAY

• What if TV programs united Americans rather than divided us? Here's how we plan to try. by new partner MainStream Nation in USA TODAY, featuring the Coalition & AT+NWOC

• The Collapse of American Identity, an interview with George Packer in The New Yorker

• Collective Learning Deep Dives on America Talks (overall debrief deck)

  • Content: recording, deck

  • Technology: recording, deck

  • Marketing: recording, deck, dashboard

July 2021

• Message to the Boss: Common Ground is not in the Middle by Shamil Idriss, Search for Common Ground

• NYT: Should I Hang Out With Someone Whose Political Views I Hate?

• Just Security: America’s Democracy Moment

• Wired: How Some Americans Are Breaking Out of Political Echo Chambers

• NYT: To Unite a Divided America, Make People Work for It

• WSJ: How I Liberated my College Classroom

• The Fault Lines of America (Time coverage)

• Voters Rate Political Division as Top Issue Facing the Country

• NWOC Recordings

  • Service Year Alliance - Bridging Divides through National Service

  • Convergence - Addressing Toxic Polarization: Bridging Methods that Work

  • Common Ground Committee - Depolarizing America: #ListenFirst and America Talks

May 2021

• Statement on Peace & Justice from U.S. Conflict Prevention / Bridging / Peace Building Leaders

• Your events scheduled for NWOC (June 14-20)

• To Bridge Divides, Act with Urgency — and Self-Awareness by David Eisner, Convergence

• The Painful Path to Unity by John Wood, Jr., Braver Angels

• Science: Political sectarianism in America

• Undivided performed by Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard

• Best Stats on Toxic Polarization

• National Affairs: Rethinking Polarization

• Building Bridges Without a Foundation for Peace Won’t Work by Joe Bubman, Urban Rural Action

• America’s Hidden Common Ground on Overcoming Divisiveness by Public Agenda

• Interactive Guide to Navigating Difficult Conversations (Takeaway) by OpenMind

• Divided Nationally, United Locally: Focus Groups Explore What Values Unite and Divide Us by FixUS

• Gabby Giffords, Jeff Flake: As Biden works to rebuild America, let's do our part by letting go of partisanship

• Eight in Ten Americans are Concerned About Partisanship. Here's How 'The Unum Test' Can Reunite America by Maya MacGuineas, FixUS and others

• AllSides' United News: How Can America Depolarize? The Best 11 Ideas from Early 2021 & Political Polarization is the New Bigotry

• The Fulcrum now published by Bridge Alliance

• #ListenFirst Coalition Twitter List (all tweets from Coalition members)

April 2021

• Brookings: Ways to Reconcile and Heal America 

• AllSides' United News: It’s Not Just Them - Research Suggests Irrational Biases Across the Political Spectrum 

• Politico: How Biden Can Unify America - What six divided societies tell us about what the president needs to do now. 

• The Atlantic: Trump’s Presidency Is Over. So Are Many Relationships.

March 2021

• Marketing Across Divides: Social Targeting Insights for Bridge Building Orgs. On the Monthly Coalition Call last Thursday, we were treated to this stellar presentation by Cambria Findley-Grubb of Civic Health Project. Also see her Social Listening in Conservative And Liberal Spaces. 

• Hands Across the Hills featured on CBS Evening News 

• Why is Governing No Longer Good Politics?: Reflections from a Thousand Years of Public Service by FixUS 

• Online Dialogue Guide by Convergence 

• Depolarizing America: Building Consensus Step by Step podcast by Common Ground Committee 

• One-minute compilation of The Reunited States television coverage. Thanks to you 100 Promotional Partners! 

• Let Friendship Redeem the Republic, a Village Square event. 

• Peter Coleman (Difficult Conversations Lab) interview on mobilizing Americans to fight Toxic Polarization.  

• Common Grounds: Spotlight on Infrastructure and Transportation, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event.  

• Research Repository for the Bridging Movement by Listen First Project. The LFP team has been maintaining this for years, but you may not have explored it. 43 pages and growing of public data points relevant to our collective mission. 

January 2021

• As many of us grapple with where we and our fellow Americans stand right now, it’s well worth taking the time to watch these focus group clips from Frank Luntz (which led him to this sobering assessment) and these vivid interviews.

• I finally watched Resetting the Table’s short film Purple (just 21 minutes) over Christmas and was moved to tears.

• New, accessible guides from One America Movement and Millions of Conversations are very well produced and full of wisdom.

  • How to Talk to Your Neighbor by One America Movement

  • Let's Talk About Us by Millions of Conversations